The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-04-29

1 dent is Mrs. Emily Wakemen, wife of
| Mr.. T. B. Wakemen, founder Of the
Liberal" club. The relation of women
! to the political life of the nation is dis
cussed by the members from all points
of view.
| Once week conference of fifty la
| dies meets at the home of the Industrial
Education Association, University
Place, to hear papers and discuss ques-
tions relating to women and educational
work from the practical point of view.
These women are by no means anxious
| for notoriety--they are simply at work
| philanthropically upon new lines, and
wish to make themselves acquainted with
| the practical side of the subject.
| There is nothing more necessary than
| this. Social problems become infinitely
more complicated than they need to be,
because women fail to adapt themselves
! to the new order which succeeds the old
The vexed question Of the servant girl
| is an example of this All house
holds are still part of the feudal system,
and they are its only relic and rep
resentative The OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES is
still the servant" (serf), having no indie
pendent life, and being stih an append
| age, a part of the state of the family
| with whom he or she lives. The fam
| ily" still resents the idea that the SER
| want can in any sense be considered an
| equal. She must remain, in certain
| way, under bonds; she must be at beck
and call from early morning till late at
night. She must be willing to remain in
or go out at all hours, and for all sorts
of purposes and errands, sometimes be-
| ing sent at ten o'clock at night to fetch
beer, sometimes to do duty as escort
What would be most shocking and inn
proper for the young daughter of the
house is matter of course and set down
as part of the duty of the young and
pretty servant girl. A warm room, ex-
cept the kitchen, time to sew, to read,
the girls" needs. She is, if treasure"
which occasionally she is admitted to
be-simply an accomplishing drudge.
These conditions have changed in every
department of labor, except household
service, and they are bound to change in
this field also. Only that the majority
of American servants are of foreign
birth, ignorant, and either accustomed to
worse treatment at home or willing to
accept what offers as stepping stone to
better things, such system could not
have lasted so long.
Granted that the majority are better
off than where they came from that the
apprenticeship they serve in families OF
comparatively refined habits and ideas is
good preparation for future, the facts
will not prevent the precipitation of a
new order in the near future. In fact, we
have been suffering from the throes and
commissions incident to it for some time.
Household service is not to be relied
upon-not under present circumstances.
1t is one of two alternatives that pre-
sents itself-homes and wages of excep-
tional comfort and liberty as induce
ments, or a struggle with dense ignor-
ance and irreconcilable differences. In
the former instances the imminent ma
ture of the coming conflict is not realized,
but the latter cases are in the majority,
and cause the friction of which we see
and hear SO much.
The remedies suggested show how little
knowledge exists of the real nature of
the trouble. Worth in the household is
beginning to make the same demand
feel the same spirit of independence that
actuates it elsewhere-and new domes-
tic order in some respects is bound to
grow out of it. Some housekeepers are
problem-meet the impending changes
and the more do this the better it will be
for them. Whether it be advantageous
| or not to the employer is not the
question; it is inevitable. 1t will be at
least well for those, both men and women,
to consider how many natural burdens,
how much of the disagreeable RESPONSE
bility of daily life has been put upon
| girls" upon women servants, for the
housing and certain number of dollars
per month they have received.
A mans work stops at set of sun,
A woman's work is never done
Wives have accepted this state of
affairs, worked and continued to work
| sixteen hours per day instead of the
eight required for men. But will house.
hold servants continue to work twelve,
| fourteen and sixteen hours per day, ris-
ing at six and often working until ten at
night, and always required to be on call
| between these hours, excepting, perhaps,
| for couple of hours once in the week
Nurses have changed the whole aspect
of affairs by a system of training and
exacting high price for their services.
| Why may not the general house servant?
The nurse, at SIC per week and her
board and washing, is not always an
agreeable person to have about; never
theless, doctors demand her, because she
can take directions intelligently, knows
how to make and apply poultice, and
what is needed In an emergency. Most
women, as matter of choice, would
rather have an intelligent, helpful friend
than trained nurse in sickness; but
''friends" are not so available since high
money value has been put upon such
services; and you cannot help thinking,
and cannot help knowing, that they are
thinking that the services they render
are worth just so much in cash to them
and to you; and as the obligation will
remain, it is generally preferable to have
it take business shape, and discharge it
in business way.
1t is little curious that we write and
talk about the ''working-class" and ser
vant-class" in this country, as if they
were fixed quantities. In reality we
have no "classes," for the expert work
man of to-day is the master workman
to-morrow-and his children are the
millionaires of the next generation. The
servant girl who marries the clever